Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Climate change is a challenge for the globe, for our region and for our domestic policy settings in Australia. In fact, if we look at the IPCC report and its projections in relation to Australia on climate change, we see it states the following with high confidence:

By 2020, significant loss of biodiversity is projected to occur in some ecologically rich sites, including the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland Wet Tropics. By 2030, water security problems are projected to intensify in southern and eastern Australia ... By 2030, production from agriculture and forestry is projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia ... By 2050, ongoing coastal development and population growth in some areas of Australia ... are projected to exacerbate risks from sea level rise and increases in the severity and frequency of storms and coastal flooding.

All reasonable members of this House would conclude that that represents a stark set of warnings for the nation’s future. Those opposite do not believe in planning for the future; they seem to think that that is something exotic. From their 12 years of inertia, we understand why.

This government believes in planning for the future. When you receive this sort of stark warning from the IPCC, a responsible government has no recourse but to act. That is why we have embarked upon an approach based on three pillars: one, reducing carbon emissions; two, adaptation; and three, engaging our global partners to ensure that we achieve a genuine global compact on climate change. On the question of reducing carbon emissions, the government’s plan is rooted in what we will do on emissions trading—something which those opposite simply ignored, year in, year out, despite recommendations from their own advisers over a long period of time.

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